Bowling alley



March 3, 1942.

R. H. FARQUHAR 2,275,222

' BOWLING ALLEY Filed Jan. 2, 1941 f nll HHm venience of transfer, andsupplies support for the Patented Mar. 3, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE BOWLING ALLEY Robert H. Farquhar, Philadelphia, Pa. ApplicationJanuary 2, 1941, Serial No. 372,709

6 Claims.

My invention relates to bowling alleys and particularly to bowlingalleys of a special type intended for use in a constricted space.

The main purpose of my invention is to emphasize skill in determiningthe speed or velocity of the bowled ball in connection with directionalcontrol over the ball as bowled.

A further purpose is to guide a bowled ball through an upwardly curvedpath to an upward discharge, allowing the ball to fall back upon areturned alley at points on this alley dependent upon the speed ofdischarge.

A further purpose is to provide curved going and return alleysconverging at their upper ends toward a vertical plane between them,whereby with speed selection the bowled ball may be projected from thegoing alley to a point above both alleys and may be caught by the returnalley.

A further purpose is to guide a ball along a curved path to an upwardfree discharge from a' going alley with fall upon a curved return alleyand to make the upward angle of discharge ad- Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section of Figure 2 taken upon upon line 3-3 thereof.

In the drawing similar numerals indicate like parts.

I have illustrated the alley as a box-like unit, made in this form inorder that it may be shifted bodily for use in any desired place,notwithstand-- ing that I am interested primarily in the lower and uppercurved alleys leading to suitable pins, rather than being interested inthe side walls, except as these side walls limit the path of the ballsto avoid injury to adjacent property.

The box-like character not only affords conbut improves the appearancealleys. sides 5 and 6 are held together and completed by a front 1, rearwall 8 and bottom 9.

Eccentrically placed curved upwardly directed going and return bowlingalleys l0 and H are The box-like 'is nearly vertical at its upper end;but each de-.

parts from the vertical l2 by sloping toward the other, as indicatedgenerally by lines l3 and I4. Transverse sections through the surfacesof both are straight lines. The upper part of the return alley crossesthe normal return path for balls which pass upwardly from the goingalley and fall back for return.

The extension alley l5 broken away at l6 leads to the lower end ll ofthe going alley and the return alley terminates in a pin support ortable I8 which merges with the curved return section along line 19.

The curved length of the return alley exceeds in length thecircumference of the ball normally used.

The going alley is shown as reinforced against the bottom by strip 20and from the end by strip 2|. Beyond the strip 2l the upper end 22 ofthe going alley is not secured to the sides 5 and 6, but is free todiverge transversely to right or left (Figure 3) but desirably pressesresiliently toward the left.

In order to facilitate adjustment of the direction of this end 22 thereis shown a strip 23 attached to the upper end of the alley. Adjustmentis effected by wing bolts 24 passing through the rear wall 8 and pullingthe end of the alley toward the right.

Because the two curved alleys are eccentric the opening between themflares toward the lower end. To confine the passage of bowled balls tothe lower part of the lower section a battle board 25 is used.

Since the two surfaces of alleys It! and l I though both curved are notcurved concentrically and converge toward the vertical at their upperends, under good bowling at just the right speed the ball will bedischarged upwardly from the upper end of the going alley and will fallupon I and nearly in line with the surface of the upper end of thereturn alley as seen in Figure 3. For any given height to which the ballhas been discharged Figure 3 shows a path of ball travel at acceptablespeed and an approach, at least, to maximum speed for pin engagement,whereas if the ball rise too short a distance it will fall against theupper edge of the upper alley surface, or fall between the. uppersurfaces of the two alleys, interrupting the return in any event and, ifthe ball fall between the two surfaces, causing the ball to be divertedfrom its intended path toward the pins.

As the ball passes downwardy engaging the carried by the sides, bottomand end. Each alley upper surface of the upper alley sectionsubstantially tangent to said surface the ball is guided into contactwith the pins smoothly and evenly at maximum speed and minimumalteration of the direction with respect to the alley surface, i. e.whether it be parallel to the sides of the alley or diagonal thereto.

If the ball be discharged at too great an angle with the vertical (overto the left too far) instead of striking the upper curved surface nearlytangent to it it will strike the upper surface of the return alley at apart of the curvature of the upper surface which is much more nearlyhorizontal than is the upper end of the alley, slowing the ball andpossibly altering the direction of ball travel.

Preferably the two alleys IE and II reach from side 5 to side 6 withoutany gutter but gutters 26 and 21 are shown at both sides of the pintable iii. In the illustration the pin table supports bowling pins 28and a pit is shown at 29.

With the adjustment assumed in Figure 3 and certain velocity for examplethe discharge will be along the line I 3 as there shown, whereas with anadjustment further to the right of this figure, the discharge would bealong line 30. With adjustment to the left discharge takes place alongline 3!. Obviously this range of adjustment accommodates balls thrown atdilferent velocities from adjustment along line SI for speed of ballsuited to play by children, through a setting as shown in Figure 3 at l3suitable for bowling by women to discharge along line 3 correspondin tothe swifter bowling to which men are accustomed.

It may be desirable to bowl at times with balls of different weights andsizes. same bowling strength the adjustment will accommodate to thedifferent weight or size of bowling balls for the use of the same groupof bowlers.

It is to be noted however that it is not the expectation that the bowlershall bowl at highest speed, but rather the skill of the game willdepend to considerable measure upon care in selecting that speed ofbowling as well as that direction of ball travel with respect to thelength of the going alley which is suited to knocking down a"? of thepins, or selected individual pins. Bowling skill therefore comprises notonly bowling along a line or angle with respect to the alley lengthsuited to reach the particular position at which the pins will be struckbut in selecting the speed of ball best suited to the bowlers purpose.

As compared with normal bowling, the alley length is very greatlyreduced, the pins are small,

there is no opportunity to run with the ball and the balls are very muchsmaller than normal bowl ing balls, more of the order of the balls whichare used in what is known as the duck pin or candle pin game. Theconditions and limitations of the game are therefore more nearly thoseof ski ball than of normal bowling but pins are used, as

distinguished from the containers used in ski ball,

"he score in this game may be counted as in the game or normal bowlingin which large balls ant. large pins are used or as in the duck pingame.

In the normal game of bowling two balls are allowed. If the playerknocks all of the pins down with .one ball he is credited with a strike.If some pins remain on the alley these pins are, known as the sparepins. If the player on using his second ball knocks down the remainingspare pins he is credited with a spare in the score. If the playershould miss the remaining pins or any of them he is given. credit on thescore sheet Even with the l for the exact number of pins knocked downand these only.

In counting up the score a strike entitles the bowler to ten points andall of the pins that he gets on the next two balls bowled. If the playermakes a spare he is entitled to ten and all of the pins that he makes onthe next first bowling.

In the event that the player would prefer to play my game under the duckpin and candle pin rules he is allowed to use three balls. The score iscounted exactly the same as in the'normal bowling game with theexception that on the third ball he gets for his score exactly thenumber of pins knocked down.

Because of the short length of the combined going and return alleys ascompared with the width of the space occupied by the pins, a great dealmore variation in angularity of the path of the bowled ball with respectto the length of the alley is available than in the normal bowling andthis gives opportunity for additional skill in making spares.

The pause during the bowling while the ball is in the air is beneficialin making the bowling time more nearly comparable than otherwise withthe time in normal bowling; and the ball is within the View of thebowler for the additional time represented by this pause.

In view of my invention and disclosure variations and modifications tomeet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident toothers skilled in the art, to obtain all or part of the benefits of myinvention-without copying the structure shown, and, I, therefore, claimall such in so far as they fall within the reasonable spirit and scopeof my invention.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is: I

1. In a bowling alley comprising two vertically separated curved alleys,each terminating lupwardly in proximity one to the other, converging andat an angle with respect to each other such that a ball projectedupwardly by the one alley will pass beyond the end of this alley anddrop back upon the upwardly directed part of the'other, a pin boardhaving'one end in line with the surface of the second alley, comprisinga continuation of the second alley, and the other end of the pin boardlying approximately above the beginning of the first alley and guttersat the sides of the pin board.

2. In a bowling alley, going and return spaced upwardly curved alleys ofnearly equal length, the return alley being slightly shorter than thegoing alley having the upper ends of both alleys upwardly directed anddeparting toward each other from an intermediate vertical plane, wherebya ball guided in upward movement by the going alley will fall back uponthe upper part of the return alley and a guard between the lower ends ofthe alleys restricting the opening between for passage of a bowled ball,a score table in line with the lower end of the return alley, gutters onopposite sides of the score table and a pit at the end of the scoretable nearer the bowler.

3. A bowling alley comprising going and return alleys spaced one fromanother and at their upper ends so related that a ball following thetrack of the going alley will rise above the upper end of the returnalley and fall freely upon the return alley and being returned by it toa point nearly above the beginning of the going alley, side walls bywhich the going and return alleys are supported, a pin board in linewith the lower part of the return alley and extending part way onlybetween the two side walls to leave a gutter and walls forming a pitlocated at the end of the pin board.

4. In a bowling alley, going and return curved upwardly directed alleyshaving the upper efiective ends of the alleys converging from oppositesides toward a vertical plane and means for varying the angle withrespect to the vertical of the upper guiding part of the going alley.

5. A bowling alley comprising going and return alleys, a score board inline with the lower part of the return alley and a pit beyond the scoreboard, having the upper ends of the two sections spaced to allow passageof the bowling ball and converging each toward the other, whereby a ballguided by the going alley will stop rising in its upward movement at apoint between the two alleys and will fall back upon the upper part ofthe return alley and means for varying the angle with respect to thevertical of the upper guiding portion of the going alley.

6. In a bowling alley, going and return curved upwardly directed alleyshaving the upper efiective ends, of the alleys converging from oppositesides toward a vertical plane, having the upper terminals of the twoalleys approximately of the same height above the going alley and thecurved length of the return alley greater than 15 the circumference ofthe ball normally used.

ROBERT H. FARQUHAR.

